Scientific Name: Sialia sialis.Family: Thrush.Length: 7 inches.Wingspan: 13 inches.Distinctive Markings: Male has blue back, wings and head, with a white belly. The orange plumage on its breast extends onto the throat. Female has the same markings, but duller.Nest: Built mostly by the female, in a cavity or birdhouse, out of grasses and pine needles. She lays four to six pale-blue or white eggs.Voice: Soft warble: “tru-al-ly, tru-al-ly.”Habitat: Open backyards and farmland.Diet: Insects and berries.Backyard Favorite: Live mealworms.

Photos

danjl

Eastern Bluebird, Female

Roland Jordahl

Eastern Bluebird, Male

Connie Etter

Eastern Bluebird, Nestling

Melissa Koski

Eastern Bluebird, Male

Information

Melissa Koski Eastern Bluebird, Male

Scientific Name: Sialia sialis.Family: Thrush.Length: 7 inches.Wingspan: 13 inches.Distinctive Markings: Male has blue back, wings and head, with a white belly. The orange plumage on its breast extends onto the throat. Female has the same markings, but duller.Nest: Built mostly by the female, in a cavity or birdhouse, out of grasses and pine needles. She lays four to six pale-blue or white eggs.Voice: Soft warble: “tru-al-ly, tru-al-ly.”Habitat: Open backyards and farmland.Diet: Insects and berries.Backyard Favorite: Live mealworms.

More Bird Species

The brown-headed cowbird is in part to blame for the declining numbers of this species. While some songbirds expel cowbird eggs laid in their nests, the Wood Thrush raises the babies, a practice that endangers the survival of its own.

Famous as the "upside down bird," the White-Breasted Nuthatch is equally adept at clambering up, down, or around the trunks and major limbs of trees. When visiting bird feeders it may carry away dozens of seeds, one by one, to hide them in crevices of tree bark.